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Ailsa of ‘Where’s my back pack’ fame, has given us a new travel theme. Time is something I’m seriously short of at the moment. Since I got back to my home in South Africa, after six months away, I seem to have been rushing madly to get things done. One of the most important things was driving up to see my dear mom and have lunch with her yesterday. She was overjoyed to see me of course, and we had a lot of hugs, kisses and news to catch up on. :)

Some of you may know that I play the piano, and I phoned the local mall to say that I was back. The pianist who was standing in for me, hasn’t played for quite a while and they have no-one at the moment, so off I go in a few minutes to entertain the Sunday shoppers for two hours. This necessitated a bit of practice time this morning, which went quite well. It’s a bit like riding a bicycle; you never forget, and as I sat down, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it sounded not too bad, so I’m quite confident to go and practise some more on the general public. ;)

I thought I’d show you our ancient clock which was presented to hubby’s grandfather in 1894. It was for his service as a Methodist minister at a church in Birmingham, England. The case is made of slate, and a clock maker told us that the mechanism is much older than 1894, so we have a real antique. It has a lovely chime too, and keeps very good time.

Here is a close-up of the metal plaque on the front. The family has no idea where the ‘pair of bronzes’ went to, but my father-in-law thought that they were maybe made of pewter, not bronze, and just fell apart over the years.

So this is our family heirloom, which weighs about 20 kgs, and was brought over from Ireland in our hand luggage. I well remember hubby carrying this and trying to make out that it weighed almost nothing, so that it wouldn’t have to go as checked baggage. ;)

Now I’m rushing off to do my piano stint. I think I’ll include those lovely old songs, Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” and “As Time Goes By,” from Casablanca, in keeping with the theme.

When I first saw Jake’s theme for the Sunday Post challenge, I thought “Oh dear I don’t think I have anything to contribute this week.” I then put on my thinking cap and started to think of all the places I’ve visited which are linked to various movies. Apart from “The Devil’s Tower” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” which I blogged about yesterday for the Daily Post challenge, “Close,” I came up with seven more photos of places I’ve visited which have connections to famous movies.

The majestic ‘Millenium Biltmore Hotel’ in Los Angeles where we stayed in 2006, was the place where young actress, Elizabeth Short was last seen before her disappearance in 1947.

The 2006 movie, “The Black Dahlia” was based on the novel by James Ellroy, about the mystery of her disappearance and her unsolved murder.

This hotel was also used in the 1984 film, “Ghostbusters”

and is reputed to have quite a few ghosts of its own.

Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, “North by Northwest” has Cary Grant swept up in a game of cat and mouse that takes him across the US, and eventually to the top of Mt. Rushmore for that classic chase scene across the presidents’ faces.

Here is a pic of the crew gathered at the bottom of Mt Rushmore before filming started.

Word was leaked that there would be a fight scene and a couple of deaths on the monument, which resulted in government officials barring them from filming it there, so the crew flew back to Hollywood, where Mt. Rushmore had to be recreated at MGM.

Another interesting place we visited is Tombstone in Arizona. The OK Corral here, is where the most famous gunfight in the history of the American Old West was fought in 1881. Can you see me bravely standing amongst all those cowboys with their guns? ;)

The 1957 movie, “Gunfight at the OK Corral” starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster is loosely based on this true story.

I’m sure that many of you remember “Rick’s Cafe” in the 1942 movie Casablanca.

This restaurant, bar and cafe was designed to recreate the bar made famous by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Set in an old courtyard-style mansion built against the walls of the Old Medina of Casablanca, the restaurant/ piano bar is filled with architectural and decorative details reminiscent of the film, and of course one of the most requested tunes for the pianist, is that wonderful song from the film, “As time goes by.”

In 2006, we were privileged to visit the beautiful Phi Phi Island in Maya Bay, where the movie “The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was filmed. We spent an idyllic few hours on that sunny day, relaxing on the soft white sand and splashing around in the surf.

Last but not least, is this park in Savannah, outside which Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) sat on a bench, telling his life’s tale to people waiting at a small town bus stop.

We just managed to snap this photo as our coach sailed past. Our guide said that the bench was just under the ‘one way’ sign, and is now inside the wall, in the park, probably where those people are sitting.

So you see, even though I’ve never actually been in a famous movie, I’ve seen lots of places featured in them. I find that quite thrilling really. ;)

Ailsa’s travel photo theme this week is ‘Oceans’, in honour or World Ocean day which was on June 8th. The five oceans of the earth are the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Antarctic Ocean, which is also called the Southern Ocean.

My home in South Africa is just a few yards from the Indian Ocean, which stretches from the east coast of Africa across to the west coast of Australia, including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. I can see it when I look out of my bedroom window. Sometimes it’s grey and foreboding,

but today it’s blue and enticing.

We often go walking along the ocean front, past the new pier,

and the lighthouse, which has been around since 1954.

Whilst on a cruise of the Great Barrier Reef, we went snorkelling in the Coral Sea, which is right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

A few years ago, as our plane flew into Bora Bora in French Polynesia, we could look down and see the beautiful blues of yet another part of the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean on earth, which stretches from the western side of North and South America across to Asia and north to south from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

Here is a photo taken next to the north Atlantic Ocean when we visited Casablanca, Morocco, a few years ago.

This same blonde woman who often pops up in hubby’s photos, (I’ll have to ask him who she is), ;) is standing next to the south Atlantic Ocean at Copacabana Beach in Rio. You can see Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.

The Arctic and Antarctic oceans will probably never be on our ‘to visit’ list. I think we’d find them a bit too cold for our liking.